Cato's Death
by Kylie Waters
Summary: I felt like writing Cato's death from his point of view. A little bit of Clato in there because I love it. *I don't own the Hunger Games


I slam onto the ground. My breath escapes me in a burst. I feel a sharp pain in the ankle and I realize I twisted it when I fell. An arrow is lodged in my hand, the metal shaft glinting in the moonlight.

_My hand. Glimmer shot it. No. The girl who killed Glimmer shot it. _

I pull the arrow out and wince as pieces of my hand tear off. The arrow was barbed. I hear a growling, but I can't see in the dark.

_A dog? No a mutt. A muttation like the one that jumped out at me earlier. _

My head whips around, I hear growling from all sides.

_A pack of dogs. A pack of mutts. I need to climb up and away from the pack of mutts._

I try to stand and fall. My ankle throbs and I hold back a cry of pain. My nails screech along the metal sides of the Cornucopia.

_Can't stop. Have to get up. A pack. Climb. Climb. Higher. Need to get higher._

I keep trying, my hands grabbing at the Cornucopia's smooth grooves. I feel jaws around my leg and I fall onto the grass.

_No! My leg. It's on fire. Girl on Fire. Kill her. My leg. Climb. Climb. Need to get higher!_

I kick at the mutt. My leg gushes blood. My hands grab at the grass, pulling tufts of it up. The mutts are closing in. I place another kick to the one biting me. It lets go and I catch a glimpse of it. Small and dark drown, with large eyes. I see the number 11 hanging from its neck, speckled with my blood.

_Like the little bird girl. Clove is dead because of her. No. Clove is dead because of the boy who loved the little girl. Clove is dead. _

All the memories come rushing back at the worst time. Glimmer dying. Marvel dying. Clove dying. I fight tears as I remember asking Clove to stay with me. I've now fallen, my leg mangled and bloody. I can't stand. I'm weakly scrabbling my hands across the surface of gold. My mind leaves me.

_Glimmer run! Marvel, watch for the Girl on Fire! Clove stay with me! Run Glimmer! Please stay… run! Don't go! Watch out Marvel!_

The mutts are like dogs, they fight over the prey. I'm their prey. Three of them are treated nicer. The pack leaders. Like us, the Careers. A red one slinks around at the edge of the woods. A green eyed one with 2 hanging from its neck sniffs me. It looks confused, not hungry.

_Maybe they wont hurt me…_

Then a dark brown one with the number 11 leaps at me, hatred in its eyes. It pushes the green eyed one aside and I see its green eyes perfectly.

_I know this! The little bird girl! The red haired girl! That's Clove! They're mutts! _

My instincts pull my muscles and I dive to the side as Thresh slams into the Cornucopia. But the other mutts are in on the fight. A light gold one leaps at me.

_Glimmer, run from the tracker jackers!_

But I need to run.

_Cato, run from the muttations!_

I howl in pain as I push myself to stand. A mutt knocks me over and they swarm me. Their teeth rake my flesh.

_M-my skin! Burns! The sharp burns! Burns my skin! _

I try to get free, but they overtake me. I lie there, writhing all night. I there, bathed in my blood. In the morning I'm barely alive. I don't move as Clove begins ripping into my arm again.

_Clove… your knives… they hurt… stop Clover… stop… you silly girl… your knives hurt…_

I look up at the sky, the only place the mutts aren't. Blood stings my eyes. My blood. I see the harsh glare of the sun off the Cornucopia's gold surface. Then I see the face of Katniss.

_Girl on Fire… she lives on the sun… stop Clover… the Fire Girl… the Sun Girl… tell Clove to stop…_

Katniss raises her bow and points it at me. The arrow points to my neck.

_Please… Girl on Fire… please… Girl of the Sun… tell Clove to… stop... please…_

Her face emits nothing as she lets the arrow fly. She doesn't look away as it hits my neck. I want to move my hands up, to stop the blood. I can't. The mutts inspect the arrow before moving on. Only Clove stays, licking my blood as it pours out of my wound.

_Clover… you stayed with me… you stayed…_

I don't close my eyes but the world turns black. Far off I hear a cannon sound. Then I feel nothing, not even Clove's wet dog nose, nudge me as if to tell me to stay.


End file.
